News Release
7th October 2009
CHILD-PROOF YOUR BATHROOMFollow Ideal Standard's quick and easy tips to avoid any accidents at bath-time Every parent knows bathing your little ones can be a great bonding activity, but like everything you do with your child, accidents can also happen too.
Over one million children under the age of 16 attend A & E departments as a result of accidents in the home every year, with over 10% of these accidents occurring in the bathroom .
The great news is that there are lots of quick and easy measures you can put in place to make your bathroom child-friendly.
To that end, Ideal Standard and parenting expert Lucy Atkins, author of numerous parenting books including ‘First Time Parent', have teamed up to create some handy tips to show you how to help prevent unnecessary accidents and create a safe environment for family bath time.
1. Avoid scalding. Many bathroom accidents occur from hot taps and water, with over half of all scalds in the UK happening to children less than five years of age . A baby or child's skin is thinner than an adult's and will scald very easily. Always check the temperature by dipping your elbow (not your hand, which may be less temperature sensitive) in the water. The bath should feel the same temperature as your body. Take it one step further knowing your child can play happily with the water as the bath fills up by fitting an Ideal Standard THERMOSTATIC control tap such as THERMOSTATIC Shower Mixer, RRP £490. This keeps the brassware cool and safe to touch, whilst the temperature limit stop control allows the water temperature to be set to a certain level.
Also available is the Ideal Standard range of ATTITUDE brassware that uses innovative COOL BODY technology offering enhanced safety. This prevents the body of the tap getting hot, even when hot water is running. The tap can be touched at any time without danger of burning, ensuring optimal safety coupled with beautiful design.
2. Prevent small fingers getting crushed. Small fingers can be easily trapped by knocking the toilet seat down during active play around the bathroom. An Ideal Standard CONCEPT soft close toilet seat has a resistance function that allows children to feel grown up by putting the seat up and down themselves, closing slowly without slamming shut to avoid any accidents. Ideal Standard CONCEPT seat and cover (slow close), RRP £100
3. Be vigilant: never, ever leave a baby or young child alone in the bath, even if you're using a special baby bath seat and if your baby can sit up alone - even if you're just ‘nipping' for a nappy or the phone. Drowning is one of the most common causes of death in babies and young children. A baby or child can drown in just an inch or two of water so it's best never to take the risk.
4. Make sure dangerous items are out of reach. Storage is really important for keeping all medicines and bathroom cleaning products safely tucked away from inquisitive hands. Seemingly harmless adult items such as razors, scissors and bleach can pose serious safety risks to children and nowadays bathroom storage can be beautiful as well as functional. The Sottini furniture range offers a number of high wall-mounted storage solutions to keep potential hazards safely out of harms way. Prices start from RRP £320 – what's more, you can get units that don't even look like cupboards!
5. Avoid slip ups: It's fine to put even a small baby in a normal bath as long as you hold them up and support them fully (the water should only be a few centimetres deep) – but put a non-slip mat in the tub to keep your little one securely seated in your grip. For extra safety, the Ideal Standard FIRST bath, RRP £xxx has a lower step in height of just 48cm, 7cms less than an average bath, making it particularly easy for small children to get in and out. The lowered height also allows easier access to the child when bathing them.
Paul Frankish, UK Marketing Director for Ideal Standard, comments, ‘By putting a few simple and easy safety measures in place, parents can have the peace of mind to relax and enjoy bath time play with their children, comfortable in the knowledge their children are protected.'
-Ends-
Notes to EditorFor further information or images on bathroom safety products, please contact the Ideal Standard press office at Hill & Knowlton:
Tel: 0207 413 3242
Email: idealstandard@hillandknowlton.com
ROSPA.com 07.08.09
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About Ideal Standard International:
Ideal Standard International, headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, is a privately-owned company, operating independently in Europe, Middle East and Africa and Asia Pacific. The company also has presence in Central and South America via a joint venture called Incesa. With bathroom solutions as its core business, the company provides bathroom furnishings, fixtures and shower enclosures for residential, commercial and institutional buildings. Its products are sold under its strong international brands Ideal Standard, Jado and American Standard (Asia/Pacific and Incesa), as well as leading local brands including Incesa Standard (Incesa), Armitage Shanks (UK), Ceramica Dolomite (Italy), Porcher (France and Incesa) and Vidima (Eastern Europe). The company employs some 17,300 people and is operational in over 30 countries. Ideal Standard International is governed by a Board of Directors